You're Not Here
by Kiiwii-Seme
Summary: Lee has been dead for a year now. Veser has some friends to help him cope.


"You really are an idiot, you know that?" My voice seemed loud in the quiet cemetery. It was the second or third time I had been to the graveyard since my friend's passing, but today was a morbid kind of anniversary. It had been a year since I had found Lee's body hanging in the theater and it just seemed right to come visit him.

"You shoulda just left it alone. But, you didn't. Of course not. You're so stupid." I leaned against the cold granite slab, so different than the warm the blonde seemed to have around him when he was alive. Today was the first day I had actually bothered to talk to Lee. Actually, more like Lee's grave. Before I thought it was stupid, talking to someone who'd never talk back, but as I thought about it, I realized it must really suck to not have anyone talk for a year, dead or alive. "She wasn't worth it, man. She wasn't worth dying over."

I gave the grave a weak grin, "Hanna and the Zombie dude forgive you for that whole 'possession' thing. They woulda came and told you themselves, but I said if they came I'd kill them, 'cuz they don't need to see me being all sentimental and crap. And that whole thing was pretty weak man. C'mon, I would've figured you'd be above that scary haunting ghost crap when you died." I tried to lighten the mood for myself but that failed completely, feeling myself break down even further. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry because crying was lame and totally unmanly, but that still didn't keep tears from pricking at the back of my eyes. "You weren't supposed to die, you ass. I still needed you; I needed you more than She needed that damn pelt." I rubbed at my eyes with the back of my arm, trying to keep away the tears from falling.

After calming down, I started up a conversation with him, finding it begin to get easier the more and more I talked. I told him about everything, college, my new friends, what I'd been doing since he was gone, what happened to my parents. I started to feel myself drift off, resting comfortably against his grave until I heard someone coming towards me. I turned to glare at whoever it was because I didn't want anyone to see me like this, but stopped when I saw that it was Ples coming with a bouquet of flowers and a sympathetic smile as he set them on the grave. "Really dude? That's so gay. I didn't even bring flowers." Ples only shook his head to that and sat down on the ground next to me, moving a hand to wipe at the fresh tears on my face. When the hell did I start crying again? I buried my face in his shoulder and finally let a few sobs rack my body.

When I pulled away from the other man and wiped my face my sleeve I sent him a slight glare. "That never happened okay?"

He gave me a small smile. "Of course it didn't, Veser. Now, why don't you tell me stories about Lee..?"

"Oh man, where do I even start?" I moved so I was in between Ples' legs, leaning up against his chest as I went through stories I had already told him hundreds of times before, his fingers idly running through my hair as he listened.

It seemed like forever in that graveyard, just sitting there telling stories to the older man, but eventually we were cut off when we heard Hanna's loud voice cutting through the quiet of the cemetery, apologizing to every grave he stepped on in his rush towards us. I pushed myself away from Ples, sitting back and looking for the hyperactive red head, spotting him coming up with flowers in hand that looked pretty much half dead. Following him was his usual Zombie bodyguard, Conrad, bundled up in a large black sweatshirt and walking with an umbrella over head to keep the sun away, looking pissed off with Worth who was trying to pull his umbrella away from him, with Lamont keeping up the rear, trying to stop Worth from actually getting the umbrella away from the vampire.

I grumbled and wiped at my face to make sure there wasn't anything left on there to let them know I had been crying. I pushed myself up off the ground and brushed off my pants, "I thought I said for you guys to stay away today!"

"Oh c'mon, do you really think that we'd leave a bro hanging?" Hanna said as he came over, apologizing few more times before stopping behind Lee's grave, setting the half dead flowers down on it. "Plus it was Ples' idea that we come! He said you needed the emotional support or something."

I shot Ples a dirty look, but I was kinda glad he got them to come because now I had a reason to stop getting all emotional and shit. I huffed and then my eyes brightened up with a grin as I came up with an idea. "Alright, I say to commemorate today, we're going out for drinks on Ples!" I didn't care if Lee wouldn't want his death remembered with free drinks, I wanted it to be and he didn't get a say in it.

Hanna slung an arm over my shoulder as we walked out of the graveyard, grinning widely as Ples stuttered behind us about how I was too young to drink and how he didn't have money on him to pay for everyone's drinks and Worth saying it was already too late for him to try and back out.

Yeah, it really sucked that I lost Lee, and yeah, I'd miss the guy more than anything, but sometimes death was just a new beginning.


End file.
